C is for Cars

We have been doing preschool every day, but life gets in the way when it comes to posting! We actually just finished D week, so I’ll be posting the rest of our C and D week activities…

• Read “Can You See What I See?: Trucks and Cars” by Walter Wick … this board book version is a a fun look-and-find book perfect for the preschool age. I love that it shows a picture of what the kids are looking for.

 

• Preschool Journal C Page

  1. Practice writing Cc and “Cars”

  2. Draw a picture of a car.

  3. Add car stickers to the page.

• Car Sorting

1. Set two circles on the floor (use hoola hoops or I just tied two long pieces of yarn together and made circles on the floor)

2. Set a red car in one hoop. Ask the kids to put all the red cars in that circle and the cars that are not red in the other hoop.

3. Sort the cars again with a different criteria:

• cars that have eyes

• cars with numbers

• cars with four wheels

• cars with a spoiler

• cars that are blue

• Car Painting

  1. Put on paint shirts.

  2. Tape paper (we used cardstock) to the table, so it won’t wiggle around.

  3. Choose a few cars with good traction on the tires (makes fun designs)

  4. Let the kids roll the cars through paint, then on their paper.

• Car Wash … a fun way to take care of those painty cars!

  1. Fill a sink with water and bubbles.

  2. Give the kids scrubbers or old toothbrushes.

  3. Have them send the cars through a bubbly car wash.

  4. Set towels on the sides to place the washed cars.

 

• License Plate Match … this was a fun game on our way to pick up our 2nd-grader at the bus stop

  1. Print the car page above & clip on a clipboard.

  2. Take a walk and find license plates on cars.

  3. Have the kids look at the numbers and letters on the license plates and cross off the matching letters on their car page.

• Apple Car Snack

  1. Cut an apple into slices.

  2. Break a toothpick in half. Insert one through the front of the apple slice & one through the back of the apple slice.

  3. Add four grape wheels.

  4. Simple and nutritious. Enjoy!

Cars

• Parking Garage
  1. On a large sheet of paper, draw a grid with numbered spaces.
  2. Collect several small (matchbox-type) cars with numbers on them. Or put a sticky dot on top of the car and write a number on the dot.
  3. Drive the numbered cars to their matching parking space with the same number.
  4. We had so much fun designing our own “Car Town!” We drove the cars to the different shops and stops, then drove them back to their numbered parking spot. Loved it!

• Painting Car Tracks
  1. Supply several small toy cars, a small plate of paint and a blank paper. I actually put blobs of paint on a large piece of wax paper and it seemed to work well.
  2. Let the kids dip the car’s tires in the paint.
  3. Drive the cars around the blank paper!

• Soapy Car Wash
  1. After you’re finished painting your car tracks picture, set up a car wash station at the sink. (It’s a MUST because those cars are yucky afterwards!)
  2. Fill the sink with soapy water and give the kids a toothbrush or sponge to wash their cars.
  3. TIP: I lay a towel out on either side of the sink and have one ready for the floor. They have fun, but it always makes a wet mess!

• Car Wash
  1. Make 3 full-page copies of an identical car clipart. You can use the one above … just click on it.
  2. Color each car differently (blue tires, green tires, red body, yellow body...)
  3. Place a transparency over a car or slide it inside a clear plastic page protector.
  4. Use a brown permanent marker to color over the car to appear as if the car were covered in mud.
  5. Start with the first car "covered in mud.”
  6. Repeat the following rhyme & remove the mud during the fifth line.
  7. Have the kids describe one thing he notices about the clean car.

One little car is in the car wash line

Covered with mud and dirt and grime,

He went in the car wash - scrub, scrub, scrub,

Splash, splash, splash & rub, rub, rub

When he came out he was clean and dry

The happy little car said "Thanks! Goodbye!”

• Real Car Wash
  1. Go through an automatic car wash.
  2. Or fill up a bucket with soap and water and wash the car outside together!
• Can you Guess which Car?!
  1. Display 5 toy automobiles with different attributes.
  2. With great drama, tell the kids you are thinking about a car that has four wheels & they need to guess which one it is.
  3. Help them recognize that you gave very poor clues because all the cars have four wheels.
  4. Add another attribute clue like "The car has four wheels and a yellow stripe" until the kids guess correctly.

 

• Pull out your toy car collection (okay, we have a huge one) and sort the cars by color, or size, or type.